


Curse of the Black Cat

by Marcruz



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: 5 Years Later, Action, F/M, Post Hawkmoth, Reveal, Trouble with Past, Will Probably be an AU after Season 2 Airs, slight romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-22 22:10:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8303045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marcruz/pseuds/Marcruz
Summary: Its been five years since Chat Noir left Paris. Five years of silence between the two, never knowing why he had left in the first place or what he had been up to for all this time. Now, out of the blue he contacts her and he makes all those unspoken feelings resurface between the both of them. Still, things are never easy for them and they are forced into trouble much larger than the two of them.





	1. Reunion

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Back To Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7253290) by [DarkReyna16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkReyna16/pseuds/DarkReyna16). 



A ringing went off. In an instant Ladybug pulled her yo-yo out and answered the call through her miraculous. She expected one of the other bearers to have called. Not him. Definitely not him.

“My Lady.” He said casually though the communicator. With a mouth held open in a both surprise and disbelief, Ladybug couldn’t come up with words to reply as she looked down at him. Her brows furrowed as she beamed a watery glare at him. Her hands covered her mouth as she gasped a long sharp breath but failed to choke out what she wanted to say.

Five Years. 

It had been five years since she had last seen Chat Noir. One day he had ended their patrol with a brief good bye and a sadness that she couldn’t quite understand in his eyes. It happened just after they defeated Hawkmoth finally captured him. He was unmasked to be none other than Gabriel Agreste and sentence to a long, long time in jail. It had been almost unbearable for her. Not only had she lost Adrien who had secluded himself to his mansion after his father was taken away, though that was completely understandable, but Chat too disappeared in the same week.

Chat simply decided to not come to the next patrol. Or the one after that. Soon there had been no communication between the two and after some searching and searching, it became apparent Chat had left Paris. Still active elsewhere in the world, she couldn’t understand why he just up and left.

Paris had gone into a frenzy when they found out about Chat’s sighting in Italy. They wondered if he was perhaps in some secret mission, but Ladybug didn’t have any answers when interviewed. As he was seen more and more in different countries and regions of the world, it became apparent that he had abandoned Paris and Ladybug along with it. 

Month after month, year after year, time passed and Ladybug had surrendered to the idea she’d never see him again. That Chat would never return and she didn’t even know the reason as to why. Had she done something to upset him? Had he finally had enough of being treated as a sidekick to her? She had wished and hoped she would have gotten just one chance to talk to him again. 

Suddenly and out of nowhere, her chance arrived. 

“We have to talk.” Chat said, finally breaking Ladybug out of the trance-like stare she had been in. 

“Chat!” She shouted out, still not believing it was him. 

“Meet me in Belgium at midnight. I’ll send you the coordinates.” 

“Chat wait-” It was too late. The communicator when to static as she held onto it like if simply shaking it would bring him back. 

That was it. Two sentences. That’s all he was willing to say to her. Five years of silence and this was all he could force himself to say to her? Did she mean so little to him? Her voice failed her. As did her mind. With a lump at her throat, Ladybug shut her communicator and made it into a yo-yo again. Before her emotions pushed her into a sobbing mess, she threw the yo-yo forward and made her way home. She had other people to call. She needed to let them know of the news.

=•==•==•=

“Are you serious?!” Alya shouted at her, more angry at the fact she had had a conversation with Chat than anything else. “He just hung up on you? Not even a sorry I’ve been gone for FIVE years?!”

Her friend’s shouting wasn’t helping her feel any better from where she sat on her bed, gripping onto her pillow as a stuffed bear, but she was happy Alya was able to express the anger she herself couldn’t force herself to feel. Despite how it made her mad, she was just happy to know he was still alive. That he still thought of her at all. 

“Yeah. Just, ‘we need to talk’, and that’s it.” Marinette explained, Tikki sitting on her shoulder as she caressed her cheek in reassurance, nodded along with her.

Not long after Chat’s disappearance the crimes of Paris began to weigh on Ladybug. Keeping the streets of Paris safe with two super heros was manageable, with just one, it became a chaotic mess especially with Marinette still trying to work her way into her dream of becoming a fashion designer. It was then that Master Fu has given two other Miraculous out to civilians of pure heart like he had before. Alya Cesaire was one of the two chosen, something Marinette was all too glad. She finally could stop lying to her best friend and even have someone to confine in outside of the mask.

“No shit ‘we need to talk’, where has he been the last half a decade?!” Alya persisted in her anger as she resumed her pacing. Her fox tail necklace bounced as she took heavy steps back and forth across Marinette’s apartment.

“Well,” Trixx, the small fox kwami began as she floated in front of Alya’s face to bring her to a stop. “He’s been in Italy, Germany, the United states, China, Australia, Alaska- Wait that’s part of the United states.”

“Not what I meant.” Alya crossed her arms in annoyance. Her kwami was all too good at irritating her.

“What did you mean then?” Trixx teased. 

“I mean that Chat Noir is acting like a complete and utter di-”

“I’m going.” Marinette interrupted, quickly cutting off her friend’s train of thought. 

“You can’t be serious girl.” Alya’s voice was suddenly full of worry. “You’re gonna leave for Belgium?”

“He’s right. We need to talk.” Marinette finally stood up from her bed, throwing the pillow she had been holding aside. “I need to know what happened to make him leave.”

“But you’re just starting your own fashion line! You can’t just put your life on pause cause Chat decided he was finally ready to talk.”

Marinette shook her head, her eyes filled with determination. “What if he’s in trouble?”

“Too bad! What about all the times you were in trouble because he was gone? The only reason I got my Miraculous was because you couldn’t handle Paris on your own, I’m still mad about that by the way.” It was all water under the bridge now, but she loved to rub that in every now and again.

“I wasn’t doing anything this weekend anyway.” Marinette made her way to her computer as she began to plan out her trip already. 

“What about girl’s night out?” Her friend said, slight irritation in her voice. “We’ve been planning this for like a month now.”

“Raincheck?” She replied with a half smile. Alya could only give her a sigh and a warm smile in return.

“You’re too good for your own good, you know that?”

=•==•==•=

With a quick leap across the medieval architecture of Belgium, Ladybug was happy she only had to make a two hour drive to reach her destination. She had never left Paris, at least not in the eight years she was Ladybug for the mere fear that something could happen while she was away. Now that Volpina and Queen Bee were around to help, it made the trip a little less nerve wrecking. Still, it was a question that plagued her heart. 

What if this was a trap? What if this was an elaborate plan to lure her away and something big was about to go down in Paris? What if something happened to her here? It was nighttime in a foreign city where no one knew her. It reeked all too much of an ambush just waiting to happen. She had to constantly push aside those thoughts as she maneuvered across the unfamiliar buildings of the town.

With a hard thump, Ladybug landed on top of the rundown building fit for bulldozing down. Their meeting was supposed to take place in what seemed to be an abandoned building, though she wasn’t going to step inside until she had some sort of confirmation Chat was there. In a quick press of her yo-yo, she began calling Chat. 

Static.

It wasn’t unusual, the first few times she had called Chat on their communication devices it had gone straight to static, but now that they were supposed to meet, the static was just raising more and more alarms in her head. 

She was about to leap from the building to return when she felt the roof she was on shake. She stumbled slightly as her eyes opened in shock. She steadied herself and began to spin her yo-yo to prepare for the coming ambush, though it never arrived.

A couple seconds passed as the building continued to shake and Ladybug quickly pieced the clues together. She wasn’t under attack, Chat Noir was. With a quick sprint to the side of the building, she slammed her yo-yo and arched it into the edge as she threw herself off and began to swing onto the of the windows. 

With a quick crash, Ladybug unlatched her yo-yo from the roof and pulled it back into her hand as she rolled a landing, coming just a few meters away from an opponent she wasn’t expecting. A large mechanized spider. Her eyes bolted wide open in surprise as she flung back, quickly losing balance.

“S-Spider?!” She shrieked out. It wasn’t like she was particularly afraid of spiders, but she certainly didn’t expect a four foot tall robot spider with glowing red eyes glaring at her as soon as she jumped in. With it’s talon-like legs stabbing onto the cemented ground with every step it took, the sheer sight of watching it crawl its way to her shook her to her core.

Before the machine got even close enough to touch her, a silver rod pierced through the machine’s body. In a loud wail of mechanized shouts, the spider struggled against the weight of a certain leather clad hero on top of it. 

She was almost awestruck by the sight of Chat Noir. He had certainly grown to fill his costume better. Years of fighting crime had certainly gave him a fit body. He still wore his all black leather outfit minus the bell, though he seemed to have more belts and pockets than before. His blonde hair, though still messy, was longer and hung loosely in front of his face, almost block his glowing green eyes that she had grown so attached to over the years. 

“Ladybug?” Chat asked out, not even noticing she had arrived until now. Recalling his staff to the size of a baton before jumping off the machine, he backed against Ladybug as she got to her feet and began to look around. 

The warehouse was infested with these mechanical spiders. They all slowly began to crawl in their direction as the duo walked backwards, backed against the wall. 

“Damn, if you weren’t here I’d just Cataclysm the ceiling onto them.” He said as he looked trying to think of another plan. 

“Well sorry to be such an inconvenience to you.” She scoffed in return, more than a little irked that was the first thing he said to her. 

“Sorry…” He said as he tensed up, his face away from Ladybug so she couldn’t quite see what expression he wore. Suddenly she felt bad for having said that. Things weren’t going to plan and this certainly how either one planned their reunion. “Saint Bavo Cathedral. Meet me there in thirty minutes.” 

What?” Ladybug asked, not quite following his train of thought. Though she couldn’t exactly get a reply, Chat was already extending his baton to propel him up and through the window she had jumped in though. 

A look of horror befell Ladybug as she turned to see the spiders all scurrying towards them. She swung and began to swipe at the incoming flood of spiders only to find that they were ignoring her. They all ran past her and climbed up the wall towards the window to chase after Chat Noir. 

Bewildered at what had just happened, it took a moment for her to realize that this all meant now a hoard of spider robots were chasing behind her (ex)partner. Quickly using her yo-yo to pull herself out of the building, she looked around trying to find any trace of them. There were a few markings on the ground where their legs had stabbed onto the earth, but after a couple of feet into the street, they had all but banished. 

It was too late. Chat was on his own now. For better or worse, he had spared from from having fought the spiders but it only aggravated her more that he thought she of all people needed protecting. Tapping her foot in annoyance, she pulled out her yo-yo and began to look into this cathedral he spoke about. He was going to have quite a few questions to answer when they met up. 

=•==•==•=

Chat came to a stop as the last of the spiders was forced to shut down. Looking around to see a wreckage of metal gears, iron bars, and beeping circuits, his work was done and his enemies all laid in pieces. It was only now that he had a moment to catch his breath that it sunk in.

“Ladybug…” He said to himself as he reached to his chest and felt his heart beat. The throb of the fast beating echoed in his throat as he was dumbfounded having actually seen her. 

Sure he was supposed to have met her tonight and he thought he was ready. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Five years later and the mere sight of her still made him shake in his boots in excitement. Still, the pulsing at his ring only gently steadied him back to reality as plagg tried to communicate to him. 

“Shit” He said as he looked at his baton. “What time is it?”

Chat looked down and he threw his hands up in frustration as he read ‘12:34’ on the screen of his miraculous weapon. He was late by four minutes already. Taking off straight into a sprint, Chat made his way back into town from the woods he had lured the spiders to do battle in. Thankfully the cathedral wasn’t all that far away for him, but no doubt he wouldn’t hear the end for being late. He never did when they met up for patrols. 

Chat caught himself as the thought crossed his mind. He shook his head violently. No. This wasn’t just another patrol with Ladybug, this was meeting up with Ladybug after years of separation! He had so much he needed to tell her. So much that she had to know about tonight. So why was it so easy to think that they had met just the other day, like if nothing had happened?

Jumping up to reach the ledge of the cathedral, Chat Noir swung himself over the edge and landed on his knee. As he stood and he looked around. Not far from him was Ladybug, he arms crossed and her foot tapping away at the roof. 

She made eye contact with him and then looked down at her yo-yo that was extended out to show a screen. He looked at the time on his baton and it only made him worry all the more. It was 12:46.

“Umm, hi?” He finally said as he rubbing the back of his neck, taking a step forward. He took two back though as Ladybug began to stomp her way towards him.

“You’re late!” She shouted, holding up an accusing index finger at him. Once she walked all the way to him, she began to poke at his chest with every word she said. “Do you have any idea of how worried I was?!”

“Plenty I’m sure, but I had a good reason My Lady-”

“Don’t you ‘My Lady’ me!” She cut him off, her finger still stabbing into him. “It’s been five years! Not one call, not one message, not even a telegram! I was so worried about you and now after you called me way over here you just up and vanish again?!”

“M-My Lady?..” Suddenly the pressure on his chest subsided as Ladybug backed off, her anger having cooled down to a watery smile. She threw her arms around him in a tight hug as she began to shake. All he could do in return was wrap his arms around her. “I really am sorry.” He said quietly.

“It’s- It’s okay.” She replied after a moment. Once she let go she took a step back, wiping the tears at the corner of her eyes. It was now that he could get a good look at her. She certainly grew into her costume as well. She had black boots and gloves to go with with outfit and aside from the long hair ties that hung along her lengthy pigtails. “But I want to know what happened. What are we doing here? What were you doing in Italy and in Germany and in-”

“Woah woah woah,” Chat said as he held out his hands defensively. “I get it, you have a lot of questions but I’m sorry, they have to wait.”

“I did my waiting!” Ladybug pouted. “Five years of it!”

“I know, and I’m sorry.” He placed his hands on her shoulders. “But it’s almost 1 and we’re running late as it is.”

“Late for what?” She asked, “And what were those spider things?”

“Machines sent after me because I was sticking my nose in somebody’s business.” He said with a grin.

“Well you certainly are good at that.” She replied with a teasing smile of her own. Ladybug thought that having a conversation with him would have been awkward after so long, but they simply got back in sync, playing off each other like they always did. 

“Well you don’t have to worry, we cats usually hunt spiders for fun anyway.” He said as he began to backpedal towards the edge of the cathedral. 

“You didn’t eat them, did you?” She said as she began to follow him. “And where do you think you’re going? I’m not nearly through with you!”

“Sorry My Lady, but like I said, we’re on a tight schedule. There are some loose threads to tie up.” 

His pun got her to roll her eyes. “Five years have made your puns even worse. You were reaching with that one and you know it.”

“Hey!” He said as he stopped by the edge of the roof. “It’s been a while, sue me.” He then launched from the roof backwards as he began to make his way across town. He slowed down as to let Ladybug catch up to him and they continued their conversation as they ran.

“So what’s going on?”

“Long story. Let’s just say that there are some bad people doing some very bad things to some good people of the city.”

“Care to elaborate?”

Chat rolled his eyes. This wasn’t the time, but Ladybug did deserve more answers. “Three years back I found someone try to recreate our powers. After news of Hawkmoth’s defeat, people wanted their own super heroes, though not everyone had good intentions for them. I put a stop to them but a separate faction took the little research they had and began to look into Akumas instead.”

“Wait what?!” She shouted as she swung off the building and continued to maneuver through the urban jungle. “Someone wanted to recreate our miraculous?!”

“They were going about it all wrong. They thought we were like comic book superheroes, bit by radioactive cats and ladybugs, that sort of thing. So their research messed with human and animal genealogy. It was very complicated and very messy.”

“Well I’m glad you put a stop to it.” Ladybug grimaced at the implications of his last few choise of words. “So why didn’t you tell me about it back then?”

“Well it took a year to finally stop them,” He said as he came to a steady stop. Ladybug came to his side. “But soon after I found out about this.” He crouched down and hid by a chimney, showing a building only a couple blocks away. 

“What’s that?”

“It’s a research facility. Since copying our Miraculous was too hard, they thought about the Akumas we fought.” 

“So they want to recreate the Akuma victims?” 

“No.” Chat narrowed his eyes. “They want to recreate the akumas themselves. They want to create superpowered humans on the fly just like Hawkmoth did.”

“Oh come on, we just got through fighting Akumas five years ago.” Ladybug was certainly not happy to hear this was going on, though she had no idea what she was getting into. 

Chat Noir looked down at his ring. He began to fidget with is as he choose his next words very carefully. He chose not to go into details about what this research and experiments entailed, it would only rattle her more as it had when he found their grotesque experiments.

“If this was just another facility, I probably wouldn’t have called you.” He finally said, getting a puzzled look from his friend. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She stood, not liking the tone he was taking. 

“It means I didn’t want you to be in danger. You have your own stuff to worry about in Paris. I could handle destroying some research, but it’s different today. They’re close to finishing. They’ve move into the testing phase.”

“Testing? You don’t mean.”

“That’s right. They want to start activating their akuma on people. We both know how dangerous they can get. They don’t know the sort of fire they’re playing with. More importantly, I can’t save them.” Chat finally set his ring on straight and stood to join His Lady. “My powers don’t let me help them like I should. But if there’s one person I know is amazing at saving people, it’s you.”

Ladybug shifted her weight on her legs as she looked into Chat’s eyes. His words, though a little dauntingly dry, still held some sincerity. It made her forgive the remarks he had made and simply put the questions on hold for when everything was over. 

“Okay. I’ll help you.” She said with a smile. “What’s the plan?”

=•==•==•=

As Ladybug climbed through the vent and into the building, she couldn’t stop thinking about how shocked she was that Chat had done so much research on the building. Getting the blueprints was simple, just being close enough let their miraculous scan the building and come out with a blueprint, but Chat had also figured out where everything was. He had access to every guard’s patrol route, what every room was for, which routes the victims should take to escape with the least amount of heat on their tail, and where they should go to get rid of the research. Well, that last one was his job. 

Chat made it clear that as the Miraculous bearer of destruction he was the most fit to go after the research and destroy the computers and files, he was adamant on having Ladybug go free the prisoners. So she was to find and free the civilians that were to be used as guinea pigs for the prototype Akuma. It was a sound enough plan, but she couldn’t help but think it was a bad idea to split up. If the mechanical spiders were any indication, it was dangerous to even be close to the building, let alone infiltrate it.

\- How’s it going, My lady?- Chat’s voice rang in her ear. He had given her an earpiece so they could communicate, a little odd considering that they could just use their Miraculous, but Chat had insisted on it. In battle they wouldn’t have the luxury of switching their weapons back and forth to talk. 

“Fine.” She replied. “I think I’m getting close. You sure this is where everyone is going to be held?”

-Pawsitive- 

There. A sign that everything was okay. She never thought that his puns would ever be any sort of reassurance, but they were. It meant that despite everything that had happened, Chat was still Chat. 

Coming to a stop near an opening of a vent, Ladybug was grateful she was still petite, otherwise climbing through here would have been a much more difficult task, something Chat would not have been able to do. 

As she peered out through the vent’s opening, she saw a few dozen civilians all rounded up in a single cell. Outside was a single man looking after them. He was sitting down, thankfully on a desk facing away from the vent reading a newspaper. She looked around and saw the cell and the access card slot it needed to be opened. Without much more thought, she positioned herself and kicked her way out.

“What the-” Was all the man could say before a yo-yo struck him on the head. Knocked out almost immediately, the crowd remained silent as she began to loot the guard for a card key. 

“Don’t worry guys, I’m here to get you out of here.” She said as she looked through the man’s pockets. 

“Ladybug?” One of them said. 

“Yup, don’t worry I’ll get you out in a second.”

“Is Chat Noir with you?” Another asked, fear hinted in her voice.

“Uh...yes?” She hesitantly answered. There was a long pause as the prisoners shifted amongst themselves. “Is everything alright?”

“You’ve got to get us out of here!” One shouted in panic. “He’s gonna destroy us all!”

“What?! Chat would never-”

“Please Ladybug, get us out of here before he uses his black magic on the building and we all turn to ash!”

“Are you talking about Cataclysm? It can’t do that.” She tried to argue back, though by this time all of the prisoners had began to rally against staying another second. Real terror was scarred into their eyes. It was like they truly believed Chat Noir would kill everyone in any second. 

Shaking her head, Ladybug chose to not fight their accusations, it would get neither anywhere. Right now she had to follow Chat’s plan and lead them out of the building. As she rounded everyone up she began to head down the hall which was surprisingly empty. 

“Chat,” She said as she pressed onto her earpiece. “I’ve got everyone, having them take the stairs down like you planned.”

-Good. All the guards have been taken care of.- For some reason, Ladybug didn’t like the way he said that. -Now just let them go down on their own. They should be able to figure out to how to leave once they reach the ground floor.-

“What about the guards there?”

-Taken care of.-

“What does that mean exactly Ch-” Before she could finish, a woman tugged at Ladybug’s arm. She was too caught up in her conversation to have noticed her. “What’s wrong?”

“They took one of us.”

“What?”

“One of us was taken to the tenth floor. They were gonna do some testing they said.” 

A look of horror befell Ladybug as she began to deduce what it meant. Placing a hand on the woman to reassure her, she began to gently push her towards the stairs. “Got it. I’ll save them. You go and get as far away as possible.” 

The lady nodded and began to flee down the stairs. Ladybug did her own running up. 

“Chat, change of plans. We got here late, they already started.”

-Gottverdammt!- Chat shouted in another language. 

“Chat?”

-Testing room is on the tenth floor,- He said as he began to gasp for air. Suddenly Ladybug realize he was in the middle of a fight. -I’ll be there a soon as I can.-

“I know, I’m almost there.”

-Wait, don’t go on your own!-

“I can handle it Chat. I’ve fought alone before you know!” She said in a rather dry tone. Adrenaline had kicked in as she kicked the door open and began to venture into the right floor number. She almost had to wander around looking for the room, but the screaming soon gave it away. 

With a panicked sprint, Ladybug moved as fast as her legs would allow as she sought out the victim of the prototype akuma. She finally reached the room, though as she tried to open it, a red bleep went off. It needed a card key. 

Ladybug cursed the heavens as she began to pound on the door over and over. Even if someone on the other side would have perhaps taken pity and opened the door, her pounding was muffled the harsh echos and pain and anguish from the screams of the test subject. 

“Damn it open up!”

“Out of the way.” Chat shouted as he less than gently pushed her side. He swiped a card key down the slot, though she chose to ignore the red stains on it. In a seconds they were inside the testing chamber. They had a clear view of what was going on. 

In front of them was a wall made of glass. On the other side was a large room where a single person was lying on the floor, writhing in pain as what seemed like electricity flowed out of them. A normal Akuma might have gotten control of the electric energy flooding out of them, but this was something different, something wrong. The victim themselves felt the jolt of electric charges surge through them. With each discharge, the victim would twist and shake under the effect of their own powers. 

There had been spectators in the room, men in business suits no doubt that had funded the project and were present to see where the money they had invested had gone to. They all shared the hero’s expression of disgust and terror at the sight of the person falling prey to their own powers. 

Again and again the electricity pulsed out of the person, more erratic and powerful with each pulse. After a moment, Chat realized what was about to happen. 

“Get down!” He shouted as he grabbed a hold of Ladybug by the wrist and flung her back outside to lay by the wall. Chat had barely made it on top of her on the ground when the prototype akuma detonated. 

In a surge of light the entire floor was engulfed in electric energy that easily shattered each window in the vicinity. Things began to catch on fire as the inevitable smell of burning flesh engulfed the area. Ladybug coughed out as the putrid smell filled her lungs. It wasn’t until she heard the pained grunts of Chat that she realize the smell came from him. His back had received a huge burn, ripping a huge portion of his suit off as his claws dragged against the floor beside her head as he tried to restrain his voice. 

“W-We have to get out of here.” He choked out.

“Chat, you’re hurt!”

“We need… we need to get to the fifth floor broom closet!” He said as he wobbled to his feet. She joined him and tried to help stabilize him, but before they could even get into a comfortable position with her arm around his waist, a second explosion went off nearby, causing them both to duck in surprise. 

“Can you walk?”

“I’ll have to.” He replied dryly as he struggled to move but managed to put one foot in front of the other. 

The entire floor had been engulfed by flames. Anything flamable was on fire, no doubt that the surge of electricity had spread to every inch of the building. In minutes it would likely fall over. Ladybug tried not to think of the damage it would cause to the surrounding area. No. They needed to leave. 

She tried to guide their path towards the nearby window where she wanted to swing her way out. 

“No. The closet.” Chat said as he pulled away, now struggling to keep balance without his support. 

“Are you insane? We’re five floors away, we’ll suffocated with smoke before we can get there!” Ladybug argued.

“Trust me!” Chat retorted as he turned away and began to make a soft pained jog towards the stairs. Ladybug could only tesne her arms up in frustration. None of this made any sense! 

“Fine!” She said as she grabbed his arm and put it around her shoulder. “You better not get us both killed!”

“Never, My Lady.” He said with a pained smirk. It was hard to keep her angry expression with that look he was giving her. With a sigh, she began a run to the stairs.

Like a clunky three legged race, Chat and Ladybug somehow made it to the stairway, though by the smoke that was quickly occupying their lungs, their time was running out. She swung her yo-yo out at the railing and with a powerful jump, tossed both of them over the edge. She did her best to estimate the size of the string she needed to use to reach the floor they needed. Thankfully, she guessed right. 

With a wrenching roll as the came to their floor, Chat took off straight into a dash. Ladybug chased after him and soon caught up with him. He seemed to have regained some strength, though was still far from his usual self. They soon reached their destination and with a hard grip to the closet, he pulled the door open. 

Ladybug ran in, though as she came to a stop, she was met with just an ordinary broom closet. She had been expecting there to be an escape tunnel or maybe a some sort of gas mask to keep them alive. 

“What the hell Chat?!” She asked as she turned to face him. He had just finished closing the door behind them. “What are we doing here?!”

He didn’t look at her or even reply. He stuck his arm out and forced his hand into a claw. She knew that gesture by heart.

“Cataclysm!” He shouted as a ball of dark energy filled his palm.

What was he doing? What would would Cataclysm do in this situation? What was he thinking?! 

Chat quickly place his hand against the wall. Ladybug’s eyes widened in horror, was he looking to bury them under the rubble of the collapsed closet? She tried to stop him but it was too late, his gloved hand made contact with the wall and a surge of energy spread out and absorbed itself into it. 

A moment of silence fell as Cataclysm began to take effect. The sound of things decaying in a eerie screech echoed but the closet remained whole. Like if the room had remained untouched by his ability. What exactly had he used Cataclysm on? Ladybug couldn’t tell, she only knew the lack of oxygen from the smoke was finally getting to her. 

“Chat?” She asked, though he was soon shining in a flash of green. His transformation expired. “W-What? No timer?”

“Sorry, Ladybug,” He said still facing away. He extended his hand out to catch the tired black Kwami that materialized in front of him. “When I use Cataclysm like that, I don’t get a timer. I use too much energy.”

“Use it like what?” She asked, taking a single step forward. Her eyes were beginning to close; she was getting sleepy. He finally turned around, cradling his Kwami in his arms. She recognized his face immediately. She had spent years looking at that very face plastered across her bedroom walls. “A-Adrien?”

Her body gave out; she needed rest and collapsed, though she could feel that he had stepped close to catch her. 

“It was you all along?”


	2. Cat in Paris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morning comes and Chat Noir doesn't accomplish anything he set himself out to do. Well, at least Ladybug isn't mad at him anymore.

“Marinette…” Tikki called out. The girl in question stirred in her sleep, promptly ignoring her. “Marinette!”

Again she whined her name, though the girl couldn’t quite force herself to wake up. She shifted her position and turned to face the voice as she reached out to pat her Kwami on the head. Soon her palm found Tikki’s forehead and gently squeezed it. 

“Marinette? What are you doing?” Tikki asked, puzzled by her Charge’s actions. 

“Pressing snooze.” Marinette responded as she got comfortable again in bed. “Five more minutes…” She brought silk covers over her head as she snuggled back into the warm embrace of the bed. 

“Marinette!” The red Kwami finally shouted out loud enough to jolt the girl. “This isn’t your apartment!”

Marinette’s eyes shot open as she suddenly realized she didn’t own any silk covers; Tikki was right. Sitting upright, she looked around the rather fancy room she had been sleeping in. Silky sheets was the least of her worries when she realized that she was wearing pajamas, someone else’s pajamas. She could barely get a handle on her bearings before there was a knock at the door. 

“Miss Ladybug?” A voice called out as the doorknob began to turn. 

“Wait no!” Marinette shouted, making the person stop from opening the door. “Just give me a minute! Tikki, spots on!” 

The Ladybug Kwami began to stretch out towards Marinette, though it didn’t seem to fuse with her earrings like usual. After a couple seconds of the Kwami trying to merge, she finally stopped, more exhausted from the attempt than she usually was after a transformation. 

“Sorry…” Tikki said as she panted. “I don’t have the energy.”

“Miss Ladybug?” The voice called out again. “Might I suggest you feed your Kwami before you transform?”

“Y-You know about Kwami?” Marinette asked as the door creaked open. She had assumed the person was trying to come in, but instead they were met with a zipping black creature with a large grin. 

“Of course! He’s met one of the most incredible Kwamis of them all, me!” Plagg said as he came out to be seen. 

“Plagg?!” Tikki shouted out as she flew in his direction, forcing the small godling into a hug. “Oh I was so worried about you! When I saw Chat’s suit burned off I thought you were hurt!”

“I AM hurt,” Plagg choked out from the red Kwami’s grip. “And you’re not helping!”

Tikki quickly let go of him and Plagg fell a couple feet before he caught himself in his levitation, quickly coming back up to her. “Jeez, do you want to kill me Tikki?”

“Sorry! I was just so worried about you!” 

As the Kwami began to talk, the man who had knocked on the door stepped in. Marinette shielded herself behind her covers, trying to hide her identity though after a moment of slow foot steps, she looked up to see a brunette young man in a butler suit carrying a tray of food. What was more peculiar was he was wearing a blindfold. 

“Blindfold?” She questioned as the person took careful steps to the bedside. He seemed to have counted the steps necessary to go to where he needed to. 

“Yes, as per Master Adrien’s request.”

“Master Adrien?” Marinette took a moment as she began to think back to what she could remember last. “Right… Chat Noir is Adrien Agreste… Chat Noir is Adrien Agreste!” She shouted out, shocking the servant.

“Y-Yes.” He replied, not ready for the high pitched attack on his ears. “He also wishes to speak with you at your best convenience.” He then lifted the silver cover from the breakfast meal as he stood upright, his head at attention. “What would the Ladybug Kwami have for breakfast?” He asked out.

“Her name’s Tikki, Elliot.” Plagg said as he floated over to him. 

“Of course, Master Plagg. What would you like for breakfast Miss Tikki?” He corrected himself. 

“U-Umm, do you have any baked goods?” She asked, not used to speaking to anyone but Marinette. 

“We can make some post haste, any requests?” Elliot continued.

“Cookies, Tikki likes cookies.” Plagg said with a huff, not liking how long it was taking. 

“At once, now if you would excuse me.” The Butler said with a bow before beginning his trek back, taking careful calculated steps to leave the room again. 

“That was awkward.” Tikki said as she watched Elliot leave.

“Don’t worry, our chef is the best!” Plagg said with a smug grin. “You won’t be disappointed.”

“Why did he know about Kwamis?” Marinette interjected. “Don’t tell me Adrien told his staff, or do they all wear blindfolds everywhere?”

“We told everyone when we got back, well the ones he decided to keep after he fired everyone else.” Plagg snickered at himself. 

“Doesn’t he know he’s putting them in danger by telling them?!” Marinette asked concerned about the entire situation. 

“They’re always in danger.” Plagg shrugged. Marinette would have taken it as simply not caring, but Tikki’s face told her otherwise. With deep frown and the troubled posture of her shoulders, the red Kwami floated close to him. 

“He knows?”

“He spent five years away from Ladybug, you think he wouldn’t have figured it out?”

“I just hoped…” Tikki began, but as she realized her Charge was still present, decided against continuing the conversation. Gesturing towards the breakfast meal, she turned to Marinette. “Can I have some? I rather not wait for the cookies.”

“Sure!” She responded, quickly pushing the tray closer to her Kwami. They quickly ate their meal and soon Tikki had enough energy to transform again. Nodding at one another, Marinette drew out her spots and in a flash of red, was suited up as the heroine of Paris. She quickly made her way to the door though she was greeted by a lady waiting on her.

“Nice of you to join us.” The lady said, startling the heroine. Ladybug looked to her right to see Gabriel’s secretary Natalie standing next to the door. “You do realize it’s past noon already correct? Do you usually wake up this late Miss Ladybug?”

“Natalie!” Plagg said in a sheepish grin. “Have any Camembert?”

The secretary reach into her suit and pulled out the desired cheese for the Kwami, all to used to Plagg’s shenanigans and not losing eye contact with the the hero. 

“I- umm.” Ladybug tried to stifle out. 

“Here are your clothes back, they’ve been washed and restored for you.” She said as she began to walk, gesturing Ladybug to follow. “And before you ask, I was the one that changed you and yes I saw you without a mask, but it couldn’t be helped considering the situation. If it’s any consolation, Chat Noir made sure your identity was kept a secret from everyone, even himself, when you de-transformed. We simply could not in good conscious allow you to sleep in burned, ash stained clothes.”

“O-Oh” Ladybug was taken back by the amount of information thrown at her. She caught up to Natalie, the black Kwami lazily following suit, and then asked. “What happened? How did I get here exactly?”

“Lack of oxygen knocked you out.” She responded dryly. “Chat Noir brought you to his home where you’ve been taken care of.”

“But what happened? The building was on fire, it was going to fall!”

“Chat Noir took care of it with Cataclysm.”

Ladybug paused, she remembered her partner using his ability, though it was strange how he had touched the wall but nothing had happened. 

“How?” Asking for her to elaborate.

“He turned the building to ash.” Natalie replied, still walking at her own pace.

“What?! But we were still in the building. How-”

“That is a question for Chat Noir.” She interrupted, though after a few seconds to think about it, she finally turned to look at her. “Or would you rather I call him Adrien Agreste?”

Ladybug gulped. She wasn’t quite ready to talk about last night’s discovery.

“You obviously know one another. I recognize you from, ahem, school.” Natalie added as she began to walk again, making their way to where Adrien was currently at. 

“So he doesn’t know then?”

“No. He closed his eyes and kept them shut the entire flight home with you in his arms.”

“Yeah, sounds like good old Chat Noir.” She said as she looked down with a certain softness in her eyes, thinking back at all the times she had spent with Chat and despite desperately wanting to know who she was, never pushing against her wishes. “Wait, flight?”

They reached their destination before she could get an answer about their travel, however. Coming to a stop at two large double doors, Natalie took a second to take in a large breath before opening the doors and walking in. Ladybug also held her breath, not exactly ready to speak to him just yet, though it seemed she didn’t exactly have a choice. 

“Adrien, Ladybug has awakened.” She called out as they entered a gymnasium. 

Ladybug looked in awe as looked around at the training area. The room itself seemed to be the size of an entire stadium, give or take a couple meters. There were weights and other workout machines on one end of the room with what seemed like a parkour course on the other. It was filled with several walls of rock climbing areas, flat smooth walls with second and third floors all interconnected with poles and balance bars. Certainly any free-runner enthusiast's dream. 

“One moment.” A voice called from high above. Looking up, the women saw Adrien on one of the tallest horizontal poles doing pull-ups. Certainly a new height in work out.

“Adrien, you’re still recovering, you should not be working your body like that.” Natalie scolded from the ground, though it seemed to reach deaf ears as he continued anyway. 

“You aren’t Chat Noir right now.” Plagg teased. “If you fall, chances are you won’t land on your feet, and even if you do, you’ll end up breaking them!”

“Fine, fine.” He said as he let himself hang for a moment.

Kicking forward a couple times to gain momentum, Adrien threw himself across the urban jungle course and onto a wall where he pulled himself over a plateau. He ran and began jumping and sliding down the ramps and poles until he finally reached the ground. With a had thump he landed on all fours, all too reminiscent of a cat. If Ladybug still had doubts Adrien was Chat Noir, they had been quieted at this moint. 

“Can you bring her- oh, you already brought her.” He said as he stood up straight, not realizing Ladybug was present at the time. 

“I’ll leave you two to talk. I shall have Patricia bring you your lunch.” Natalie said as she made for the exit, leaving behind an awkward silence.

“I-I’m sure you have lots of questions…” Adrien said as he rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Yeah, like what the hell happened last night? Who were those guys that made the akuma? You still haven’t told me where you’ve been the last five years that we were apart! What-”

“Woah, Ladybug, take a breath.” Adrien said as he took a step forward to grab onto her shoulders, bringing her to a stop. “I’ll answer your questions, just one at a time, okay?”

Ladybug took in a sharp breath. “Last night with Cataclysm, why didn’t you get a timer? What happened to the building? Why and how did the closet protect us?”

“Didn’t I say one at a time?” Adrien chuckled, though he glanced at Plagg. “Well, they’re all related anyway. Plagg, claws out.”

The kwami nodded and soon he merged with Adrien’s ring. As he glowed in green energy, the suit began to crawl over his body, taking shape and transforming into the person Ladybug was much more accustomed to talking. 

“Cataclysm is the power of destruction.” He said as he began to walk over to a wall. “It allows me to destroy anything I touch.”

“I know.” Ladybug replied, following him. “I’ve seen you use it a thousand times.”

“Ah, but I found out I can be more accurate with it.” He said as he turned back to her. 

“Pardon?”

“Depending on how much energy I’m willing to use, I can destroy anything I want, including something as large as an entire building.” He said as he placed his right hand on the wall. “Or as precise as only a single light bulb in a building. Cataclysm.”

His hand glowed and he injected the wall with the destructive energy his palm gave off. Ladybug saw green lightning light energy surged up the wall and towards the ceiling. It traced it way to one of the hanging lights and soon the bulb exploded, scattering glass around the floor. As he pulled his hand back, he showed off his ring to show it only had two minutes left on it. 

“The more I destroy, or the more accurate I am in my destruction, the less time I get on my timer. Needless to say, destroying a whole building while keeping a single closet unscathed takes a lot of energy.” He explained as the first of two beeps went off. “Claws in.”

Plagg was pulled from Adrien’s body and the suit disappeared in a flash. “Ladybug can do the same thing with her lucky charm.” Plagg said as he landed on her shoulder, poking her earrings. “Ever got an item a little closer to what you had in mind than usual only to find you suddenly had less time?”

Adrien reached out and Plagg hopped onto his Charge’s hand. 

“I had told Natalie that if things went south, I’d be in the fifth floor closet. She found the closet on it’s own surrounded by a building’s worth of ash. She dug us out and brought us home.” He said with a smile. 

“Home, right.” Ladybug said as he eyes darted away. “To the Agreste Mansion. Chat Noir really is Adrien Agreste, huh?”

“Right.” Adrien said with a nervous chuckle. “Not who you expected, huh?”

Ladybug took a moment to gather her thoughts. She was careful to chose her next words. She wanted to talk and find out what had happened, but she didn’t want to come off as angry or accusing. 

“Not so much worried about who’s behind the mask as I am on the thought Chat Noir had left Paris.” She finally said. “Turns out he just hid in his mansion the whole time?” 

“I did leave, for three years at least.” Adrien sighed. “I roamed Europe for three years, with each town I visited a new fight, with each fight, another loss. After I had enough loss, I came back home.”

“I heard about what Chat Noir accomplished in the towns he visited. I wouldn’t count them as a loss. Crime rate fell, people were saved, good things happened.”

“Aww, did My Lady keep up with what I was doing?” Adrien teased. 

It brought a sudden sensation of heat to her cheeks as she saw the sly smirk of Chat planted on Adrien’s face. Unnerving in one sense, strangely attractive in another. Still, it wasn’t about to distract her about the matters at hand.

“Why didn’t you talk to me when you came back?” She asked, looking away. “I had been so worried about you.”

“I didn’t want to trouble you.” He said softly, his voice not really finding the right words to say. “You had your hands full with Paris and training the new heroes and I got caught up with the whole, ‘Someone is trying to copy our powers’, thing.”

“I could have helped.”

“I wasn’t ready to have partners again.”

“Partners?” She asked, emphasising the plural of the word. 

“It’s a long story My Lady…” He simply put, not really willing to explain further. She caught his hesitation, but she wasn’t willing to leave it at that. She returned her gaze to him only to see it was now him looking away. 

“You had other partners while you were away?”

“Why are you making it sound like that?”

“Like what? Like I was replaced?!”

“Well you have new partners too.” He tried to defend himself. 

“I NEEDED help, Chat Noir. Paris is too big for just one person to protect.”

“And you think keeping several countries safe doesn’t need more than one person?” Now he looked back, only to see her glaring at him. He narrowed his eyes, returning the gesture. “Kinda needed some help too.”

“You did all of that willingly, you wanted new partners, my hands were tied because you left!”

“You make it sound like it’s all my fault this happened.”

“Isn’t it?!”

They each took a step forward, not relenting in their hard stares. It wasn’t until they felt themselves run into a silver platter that they realize they had had an audience. Looking down, a maid had stood between them looking back and forth at them. Patricia had brought Adrien his lunch. Noticing the maid, they each jumped back, giving the girl some room as they had accidently encroached on her.

“P-Patricia!” Adrien practically shouted out. “When did you get here?”

“A little while ago. I didn’t want to interrupt.” She said softly, pushing the tray of food towards him. “I would have set it down, but you don’t have any tables or desks in the gymnasium.” 

Ladybug looked at the girl, instantly locked onto her strange features. If her silver hair wasn’t already strange enough, on top her head were two white cat ears, not unlike those of Chat Noir. She also had a tail that hung from the top of her made skirt. It made her glare at Adrien again.

“What are you making this poor girl wear?” She accused as she took a step towards him. He looked at her, then returned his eyes to Patricia. After going back and forth for a few moments, he realized what she was saying.

“Wait, no!”

“You’re taking the whole ‘Chat Noir’ thing to a new level of kink.” She said as she pointed at him with a condemning finger. 

“It’s not what you think-”

“I’m leaving!” Ladybug said before he could defend himself, stomping away as she swung the bag of clothes over her shoulder. She quickly exited the gym with a loud slam of the door. 

Patricia’s ears flattened against her head as she tried to shield them from the sound. She stepped closer towards Adrien, confused and sad with what had just happened. 

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No…” He tried to cheer her up with a pat on the head, quickly perking her back up. “My Lady is just quick to jump to conclusions sometimes.” He chuckled nervously. “I’ll talk to her later.” 

“Jeez, she sure left quickly. Think she hates you now?” Plagg asked as he floated down to Patricia’s head. 

“No, well maybe. Wouldn’t be the first time.” He mused as he took his tray of food and began to walk out, the other two following him. “Now let’s eat, Chat Noir needs to pay Paris a visit.”

“You sure that’s a good idea? You’re still recovering. We’re BOTH still recovering!”

“And here I thought we could stop by the shop to get some more camembert.” Adrien said with a sly smile. 

“Chat Noir can handle a little stroll through town.” 

=•=•=•=•=•=

With a swift jump, Chat Noir fell back into the familiar territory that was the rooftops of Paris. The sights and sounds brought back so many memories of a simpler time in his life. He remembered all his short cuts and all the small steps he took to make the jumps and flips. It was all muscle memory.

He couldn’t help but grin as he moved past chimneys and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, using his staff for the occasional boost in altitude. It wasn’t long until the Parisians took notice of him. It was attention he wasn’t used to getting in a long time. His time in different countries was always something more covert. He hid and shied away from the spotlight else it would lead to a fight of some sort. Here, though, he didn’t feel the need to hide himself. He felt...free.

As if on cue, Chat’s ears twitched at the sound of an alarm. He came to a crouching position on all-fours before he took a moment to listen. Narrowing his eyes towards the sound, he took off in a sprint. 

He stayed on the high ground as he pulled out his baton to look at the extended screen. Pulling out the map, he found the alarm was likely coming from one of the jewelry stores nearby. 

“Damn it, hurry up!” One of the thieves called out to his partner as he threw a duffle bag over his shoulder. “Those heroes will be here soon.”

“Hold your horses.” The other barked back as he struggled to get more jewellery in his own bag. “They were seen in the other side of town, we've got a good fifteen minutes before they show.”

“I don't want to risk it, now get going!” He said as he began to make his way to the large hole in the wall they created with dynamite.

With the superheroes patrolling Paris basically on the daily now that there were three of them, the average thief had to be quick with their in and out plans. Using the cover of night no longer did the trick. The moment any police were notified or screams were heard, the heroes arrived. Every job became a hasty job.

Using dynamite to blow open a wall or simply breaking in through a window wasn't unheard of, if not unsubtle. It certainly made them more dangerous as now they had little regard for anything that got in their way. Civilians had to wait for the authorities or the Superheroes to come unless they wanted to be made an example out of. This aggressiveness and brutality was something Chat Noir had become someone of an expert on in recent years.

As the culprit took a step outside, his jaw was met with the tip of Chat’s extended staff, knocking him sideways as the force spun him in a twirl. With a loud bang he hit the floor and it quickly got the attention of other other thief. 

“What happened?” He asked as he turned around. All he managed to see was the end of his friend’s legs as he was dragged out of sight. Panicked, he stood up and pulled out his knife. “Who’s there?!”

“Let go of those diamonds, can’t you see they’ve been under a lot of pressure?” Chat’s laugh echoed as the thief began to slowly make his way to the opening on the wall.

“Quit your bullshittin’, who are you? Are you one of those heroes?!”

“Didn’t like my gem pun? I’m sure I've got at least one that will get a chuckle out of you, just give me a sec to dig it up.” Chat said as he landed in front of the guy from the roof above. 

Reflexively slashing with his knife, Chat ducked to avoid the blade as he extended his baton to knock him off his feet with one powerful swipe. Dropping the knife in the fall, the thief tried to crawl his way to his weapon but as he reached for it, his hand was crushed by the end of Chat’s staff. The crackle of his bones was heard as Chat lifted his weapon and slammed it down on the guy’s head, knocking him out in a decisive blow. 

Chat couldn’t help but smile at his handy work. Even injured, he was happy to note he was still a force to be reckoned with. He would have tied up the thieves, but with the echo of sirens around the corner, he figured his job was done. 

Making it to the rooftop just in time to avoid being spotted by the police officers, he was met with two bewildered girls. One dressed in yellow with black stripes brandishing see-through wings and the other in an orange and white suit with a fox’s tail and ears. He knew exactly who they were as he’d seem them on the Parisian news plenty of times. 

“Well hello, wasn’t expecting any company.” He said with a cheeky smile. 

“I was about to say the same.” Queen Bee replied, keeping her eyes glued on him as he slowly stepped closer. “Didn’t expect to see someone beating up the bad guys when we got here.”

“But did you see him?!” Volpina jumped in the conversation. “Man, you took them out quick! Where’d you learn that?”

Chat chuckled. “Well, when you’ve done it as long as have, you pick up a few skills.” He extended a hand out in a greeting. “I’m Chat Noir. Nice to meet you both. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“We already know who you are.” Queen Bee was the first to reach out and accept his greeting.

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Volpina added as she shook hands with him next. “We lived in Paris back when you and Ladybug were a team. I mean, I guess you still are, but since you’ve been away for so long we became her new partners.”

“Right,” He said with a sad smile, recalling the morning's argument. “New partners.” 

Queen Bee quickly jabbed her friend in the side with her elbow. 

“We became Ladybug’s new friends, not your replacement.” She added, taking quick note of Chat’s change in expression and quickly trying to remedy the situation.

“Right!” Volpina added. “She just needed help is all!”

“Thanks.” He said, catching the girl’s off guard. “For taking care of My Lady these last few years. I’m glad someone was there to watch her back in my absence.”

Again the heroines took a moment to look at one another, not expecting Chat’s blunt honesty like that. They edged closer and began to inspect him up and down. To this, Chat began to sweat nervously as they observed him a little too close for his comfort. 

“I-Is something wrong?” He asked as he took a step away.

“Are you the same Chat Noir that took Hawkmoth down with Ladybug?” Volpina asked.

“Yes?”

“You are not acting like ANYTHING Ladybug said her Chat Noir acted like. Where are the puns, the cheshire grins, the sassy remarks?” Queen Bee added. “I was ready to push you away the moment you started flirting.”

“Hey!” Chat unintentionally screamed out. “I only flirt with Ladybug.” He argued, a slight blush burning under his mask. 

“Right.” Volpina mocked as she teasingly smiled at him. He knew that look, the mischievous smile of a fox he wasn’t willing to face right now. He quickly changed the topic.

“Does Master Fu still live at the same place?” Chat said as he cleared his throat. “I’ve got to talk to him about something.”

“Yeah.” Queen said as she began to flap her wings and float a few feet off the ground. “We were actually on our way there right now, Ladybug wanted to meet to talk about something.”

“Oh drat, that’s right!” Volpina said as she realized the time. “We got side tracked with the whole robbery thing, we’re super late!”

“Ladybug is going to be there? Better not then. Don’t think she wants to see me right now.” He laughed of his nervousness.

“What? You two get in a fight or something?”

“Or something.” He replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “Better give her some time.”

“Well, no time like the present!” Volpina said as she grabbed onto Chat’s arm. 

“Wha?” He struggled to break free, but it was clear she wasn’t to let go. 

“Come on lover boy, let’s go meet your lovebug.”

“Wait!”

=•=•=•=•=•=

“You seem troubled.” Fu asked as he took a sip of his tea. 

Sitting down at the small table in the middle of the room, his eyes had been closed for a while but the negative vibes Ladybug was giving off were hard to ignore. 

“Chat Noir is back.” Was all she replied as she took a drink of her own tea. 

“I know. Wayzz sensed the presence of his Miraculous and Plagg not long ago.”

“Oh?” She put her cup down on the table. She looked up at the old man whom was still relaxing behind closed eyes. “So you knew that he had come back two years ago?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It wasn’t my place to do so.” 

Ladybug narrowed her eyes at him, though looked away in a huff. She was still very peeved about this morning, though she actually couldn’t find a real reason as to why she was angry. All she knew was that Chat Noir was behind her frustrations. 

“Do you resent him for keep his presence here a secret?”

“Of course!” Ladybug answered as she practically slammed her hands on the table. “Why didn’t he just talk to me the moment he got back?!”

“Did you ask him that?” Fu asked, taking another drink. He finally opened his eyes to look at her. His stare managed to bring her anger down to a simple simmer of frustration. 

“I did. He said he couldn’t.”

“So he couldn’t.” He restated, as if affirming that that was the answer.

“Am I just supposed to accept that?”

“A better question is why you can’t.” He replied without missing a beat. Suddenly, Ladybug was at a loss for words. “You are not a child anymore. Have you no faith in your partner anymore?”

“But-” She began, though before she could finished there was a loud bang as the door opened and hit the wall. Volpina practically dragged Chat Noir by their interlocked arms, pushing him into the room. 

“Look what the cat dragged in!” Volpina said, proud of her pun. 

“I think you mean look at the cat the fox dragged in.” Queen said as she squeezed by and out of the sight of Ladybug and Fu. Clearing his throat, Chat stood up straight and waved awkwardly.

“H-Hello My Lady.” He was cautious, not wanting to accidently anger her again. 

Ladybug glanced back at Fu and made eye contact for a moment. Taking in a deep breath, she quickly walked towards Chat whom stiffened at her approach. 

“Chat.” She said sharply.

“Yes?” He leaned back away from her glare.

“Are you still my partner?” She asked, not wavering in her stare. Though the sudden question caught him off guard. 

“What?”

“Are you still my partner” She repeated herself. “I want to trust you Chat, I really do, but let’s face it, after five years and the stuff I’ve heard, it hard to put any faith in you. Can I still trust you?”

Chat Noir loosened up and looked down at her. “Of course. Ladybug, you matter more to me and you will ever know. If you fell, I’d be there to catch you. As long as you’ll have me, I’ll continue to stand by your side, and if you want me to leave, I’ll watch over you from afar.” He spoke in a low, soft tone. 

“I needed you, but you weren’t around.” She replied. 

“You could have used help, yes, like when fought against the crime lords trying to move into Paris or the street gangs that were starting to sprout from the violence created from fighting crime.”

“Y-You know about those things?”

Chat could only smile back. “I kept up with you too.” He said with a wink. “There were many times I almost came back when things got difficult for you. I would see you struggle on the news and I would get up sure I needed to come back, but you always pulled through, always managed on your own. Before I knew it, you got other heroes to help you and my presence in Paris was no longer needed. So I stayed away, trying to do my part elsewhere.”

“I told you already, I still needed you.” She said, looking away but taking a step closer. Chat Noir grinned and also stepped forward to where there was nearly no space between them. 

“Ahem.” Queen Bee cleared her throat, getting the attention of the heros and they suddenly realized they were being watched. Quickly, they jumped back, partially embarrassed by the exchange that should have probably taken place somewhere private. 

“Bee!” Volpina scolded. “It was just getting good!”

“I concur.” Fu joined in, to which Queen Bee only shrugged. 

“Well sorry honeys, but I had plans today and while I get superhero business takes precedence, I’d rather not use up any more of my time than I need to.”

“Right, superhero business.” Ladybug said, clapping her hands as to gain the attention from everyone and try to stir herself back into her center. “I was going to tell everyone Chat Noir had returned to Paris, but you seemed to have beat me to the punch.”

“Was that all? No offence.” Queen directed the last part to Chat before returning her gaze to Ladybug. “Something like that could have been shared over our comm devices.”

“Actually, there was was also the issue over what I found out Chat had been up to these last five years.” She looked back at him and almost pulled him forward into the spotlight. “But Honestly, I think he can explain it better.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Umm, the Akuma we found last night?” She said, quickly peaking the interest of everyone in the room. 

“What?!” Everyone said in unison.

“Is Hawkmoth back?” Volpina was the first to ask.

“Last I checked, Gabriel Agreste was still locked up. Think someone else found Nooroo and the Moth Miraculous? Ladybug never retrieved them after all.” Queen Bee added.

“We looked everywhere, it was simply gone and Gabriel didn’t tell us anything as to where it could be.” Ladybug defended.

“No, these are synthesized Akuma.” Chat tried to clarify, though it seemed to only bring up more questions. It was impossible to answer the flurry of questions now being practically shouted at him, Ladybug included. Shaking his head, he tried to quiet everyone. “Woah woah, tell you all what. How about I go gather what I know and I bring it back here tomorrow. My secretary was doing some research on what we found out last night anyway.”

“You have a secretary?” Volpina asked, her interest on the wrong aspect of his sentence. 

“Uh, yes? Speaking of which, I have stuff she needs me to do. I should get going.” He added as he glanced at the clock on the wall. 

“Wait!” Volpina shouted before he could move an inch, does anyone know you’re back yet? I mean, besides us?” She asked, her eyes strangely serious.

“A few people saw me out when I ran today, but that's it. Why?”

“Perfect!” She said excitedly, almost jumping her way towards him. “How would an exclusive interview with an up and coming reporter sound?”

“Volpina?” Ladybug looked over at her in shock. She knew where she was going with this.

“Uh, sure?” He said, not really sure where the sudden shift even came from. “Who did you have in mind?”

“Why only the pretty new intern at La Tribune Internationale, Holder of the Fox Miraculous, Alya Cesaire!” She announced as she undid her transformation, revealing civilian self.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Alya?” Queen said before looking back at Chat. “Again, no offence.”

“Oh come on, Bee.” Alya said with a grin. “Superheroes share their secret identities sooner or later anyway. I'm sure I can trust him. So what do you say, Chat? Willing to take a moment so answer a few questions?” She already had her notebook and pencil out, ready to start. “It’s been awhile since our last interview.” She added with a smirk.

“Sure, but only if I get a hug.” He said with a smile, getting a mixed reaction from everyone around him. 

“Ah, there’s the flirt Ladybug was talking about.” Queen said, raising a brow at him, though it soon faded as Chat undid his own transformation, quickly getting a scream from Alya.

“Adrien!?” She squealed as she ran to hug him on instinctively. “It was you all along?! You sat in front of me in highschool, how did I not know?! Oh nevermind that, it’s so good to see you again!” 

“It’s good to see you too!” Adrien said as he returned the hug, excited to meet a face from so long ago. 

Ladybug evaded her eyes, not believing her friends had just revealed themselves so lightly, yet a part of her was happy to see them so excited to see one another. A part of her almost wanted to do the same, but she wasn’t ready to cross that bridge yet. No, she still had a lot to talk about with Chat before then. 

Glancing at Queen Bee and how she was narrowing her eyes at Adrien, she knew even if it wasn’t the worst of ideas, it certainly wasn’t a good one. This will come back to bite him later, or perhaps it would be sooner than he would expect. 

With that, Queen Bee silently left the room.

=•=•=•=•=•=

With night finally setting over Paris, the lights of his wonderful home began to glow and illuminate the town which had loved growing up. Currently at the top of the Eiffel Tower, Chat looked down and began to reminisce on times he and Ladybug would make their patrols at night. How it was so simple back then and how much he truly missed the peace of it all. 

Light foot steps echoed in the cool night air as Ladybug joined him up on the tower. She slowly and quietly came to his side before sitting down next to him on the iron bar. 

“You wanted to talk?” She asked as she began to look around at the lights of the city. 

“Cookie?” He asked as he lifted a brown paper bag to her. “Tikki never got her cookies.”

“Thanks.” She said as she grabbed one and began to eat it. 

“About this morning-”

“It’s okay, you can talk when you’re ready. I was just...overwhelmed.” She admitted as she tucked her hands under her legs, done with her snack.

“Thanks.” He smiled. “But I meant about Patricia.” 

“Oh.” Ladybug looked away. “What you do in the privacy of your own home is your business Chat.”

He could only laugh as she spoke, only causing the blush she was trying to hide deepen. 

“Hey! I’m trying to be nice here!”

His laugh quieted and he reached for one of his zipper pockets. Unzipping it and retrieving what was inside, he showed it to Ladybug. It was a picture of Adrien with his maid and butler posing for a picture, the maid still having her cat ears and tail on, though there was something...off about the butler’s eyes. 

“Their names are Patricia and Elliot. Siblings who were orphans for as long as either can remember.” He began to explain. “Because they officially didn’t exist, it was easy for them to just disappear one day.”

“You rescued them from the streets?” Ladybug asked, not asking about the picture or why the maid was still dressed as she was.

“Rescued yes, but not from the streets.” He said, looking back down at the Parisian lights. “I found them in a chamber strapped to cords and IVs and other chemicals that were being pumped into them. Patricia had already sprouted the ears and a tail, Elliot had only gotten compound eyes. The eyes of an insect not unlike that of a Ladybug.” He finally returned his gaze to Ladybug. 

She finally understood.

“You mean-” She placed her hands to her mouth as the realization sank.

“I rescued them from what the Italian Government called Progetto Eroe, Project Hero.” Chat clenched his fists. “I got there too late to stop the experiments. Only Elliot and Patricia survived, but the damage was already done. They couldn’t go back to the world looking like that, not like they had a home to return to anyway. So I took them in.”

Chat let out a breath as he reached for the picture again. Gently looking down at it, he placed it safely back in his pocket.

“They were grateful to me, so much so that they started to do chores around the Mansion. Before I knew it, Natalie had given them uniforms and placed them on the payroll.” He grinned one of his toothy smiles. “It was nice, the Mansion felt warmer after they moved in. They became like family. But I saw the pain that they had gone through, witnessed the evil it could cause. So I made it my mission to make sure everything that had to do with that research was destroyed.”

“And that’s why you couldn’t stop by.” Ladybug said as she brought an foot up to the railing, hugging her leg as she laid her head on her knee to look at Chat.

“A lot of stuff happened in the last five years, My Lady. I should have made time to come see you, but I didn’t and I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay chat.” She smiled. 

With that, they returned their gaze to Paris and its busy streets. It was nostalgic, sitting side by side on the Eiffel Tower. It was like no time at all had passed and they were still just kids taking on the world with powers they didn’t quite understand. Not a care in the world, just living their lives day by day. 

“Thank you for telling me.”

“Of course. I would have told you sooner, but you stormed off pretty badly.”

“Oh shut up, don’t ruin the moment!” Ladybug slapped her hand against his back in retaliation to his teasing, though soon regretted it as he shrieked in pain. “Oh, sorry! I forgot you were injured!”

“It’s- It’s okay.” Chat grumbled out. “I’ll be feline better in a second.” He smiled his cheshire grin.

“I’ll let that one slip, you stupid cat.” Ladybug said as she rolled her eyes, though her smile betrayed the frustration she was trying to express. 

Well, maybe things aren’t all that different. Some cats never change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea for precise use of Cataclysm and Lucky Charm came from the Bubbler episode were Ladybug used her power to get just what she needed to stop the slow dance but had basically no time left and had to de-transform.


End file.
